The concert was approaching its end when the perpetrator struck. The square in Solingen, a few miles outside Düsseldorf, was filled with people who had gathered to listen to music and celebrate the 650th anniversary of the West German industrial town.
Suddenly, a man collapsed near the stage. An eyewitness tells the local newspaper that he initially thought the man was drunk, before seeing two more people lying bleeding on the ground.
After an intense police hunt with two arrests over the weekend, the suspected perpetrator – a 26-year-old Syrian who came to Germany in December 2022 – was finally arrested, after surrendering to a police patrol. On Sunday, the terrorist group IS claimed responsibility for the attack and described it as revenge for dead Muslims "in Palestine and everywhere".
Notable Attacks
The attack is the latest in a series of notable knife attacks in Germany carried out by perpetrators from Syria and Afghanistan, including one in May, when a police officer was killed when an Afghan man attacked an Islam-critical meeting in Mannheim.
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz from the Christian Democratic CDU is now demanding a complete stop to refugee reception from the two war-torn countries, although without describing how it would be legally feasible. Merz also wants criminals who do not have the right to stay in the country, but who cannot be deported for various reasons, to be locked up indefinitely.
The far-right AFD, which may become the largest party in this weekend's two state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, is also using Solingen as evidence of the consequences of a failed immigration policy, and blaming the government for the attack.
Stricter Gun Laws
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) visited Solingen on Monday, and promised to tighten gun laws in the near future. But that's not enough, according to Christian Democrat Hendrik Wüst, who governs the populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is located.
Knife crime is one thing. Targeted attacks committed by radicalized perpetrators with a sick ideology are something else, he says according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.
